This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.

Blog Day :

3707

Post No. :

14632

Today’s song is from film the film Mahatma Vidur-1943. It is sung by Vishnupant Pagnis. This will be his second song on the Blog.

The song is written by Pt. Narottam Vyas and MD is H.C. aka Harishchandra Bali. The film was produced by Circo productions and directed by Parshwanath Alatekar. The cast of the film was Vishnupant Pagnis, Durga Khote, nayampalii. Baby Madhuri,Kalyani, David etc.etc.

Thousands of actors worked in Hindi films. All were not heroes, because to become Hero in a film, you require Luck or a God father. There were many One Film Wonders in Hindi films. Some worked in only one film and some worked only in one film worth remembering. So much has been written about this tribe, that I will not repeat it here. However, working in just one film or a film which records your name in the Hindi Film History for ever is something extraordinary. I remember just two such names, offhand, in this category, though, I feel, there could be few more such names. Knowledgeable readers can point them out in the comment section.

The names which I remember are Rajkumar Gupta, who did the role of Ajay in film Jagriti-1954 and Vishnupant Pagnis who did the main role in the film Sant Tukaram-1936 (Marathi version. Its Hindi version came up only in 1948). Rajkumar Gupta-who hailed from Ranchi-acted in only One film, Jagriti, arguably the most meaningful Children’s film ever, and his role of Ajay alongwith the movie has passed into folklore.

Vishnupant Pagnis did the immortal role of Tukaram in his first film and then lived the role throughout his life, though he did four more films in the same Genre of Saint films. His name became famous not only in India but also in other countries. This film was hailed as “one of the 3 Best films in the world” at the Venice Film Festival, where it won accolades. Records of his Bhajans from this film created records ( we too had these records in our house in the 1940s.)

Vishnupant Pagnis was born in a small place called Chicodi, near Kolhapur, on 1-11-1892, in a lower middle class family. After formal education, he was assisted by Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur state to join a Drama company at the age of 10 years. He sang naturally, without any training from an expert. he was a popular artist doing female roles, till his entry in films. He shifted to work in various drama companies including “Lalit Kaladarsh” of Mama Varerkar- a name connected with many Marathi and Hindi films of that time. In 1913, he floated his own company ‘ Jagchitradarsh ‘, only to wind after two years in 1915. he continued working in dramas and doing female roles, for which he was famous in those times.

After a few years, he left drama acting and worked as a Music Teacher in Municipal school at Girgaum in Bombay. After his wife died, he lived with his friend Petkar. They started a Gold Jewellary shop “Pagnis Petkar and Mandali” in Girgaon.

When Prabhat Film company planned to make Sant Tukaram, a search was undertaken for the main role and the main female role. This was in early 1936 and he was selected for the role of Tukaram, while a worker in the Prabhat company-Gauri – was selected as his wife. The Director duo of the film- Damle and Fattelal- were not happy about his selection, because his name was associated with female roles. But this became his strong point for the film in which he portryed a soft, kind and loving Tukaram. He did the role so well that the film Sant Tukaram became an International Hit, in addition to running to full house in Non Marathi areas like Madras Presidency, covering Andhra, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka and also in Bengal and Punjab. he became an actor in great demand for Saint films. After the film Sant Tukaral, hundreds of people used to crowd in his shop at Girgaum to pay respects and touch his feet as Tukaram. He also always dressed like Tukaram thereafter !

Vishnupant Pagnis worked in for more films of the same genre, namely Sant Tulsidas-39, Narsi Bhagat-43, Bhakta Raj-43 and his last film Mahatma Vidur-43. He also gave music in two films, Sant Janabai- 38 and Sant Tulsidas-39. These two and Mahatma Vidur were also made in Marathi language. His most famous film Sant Tukaram was released in Hindi only in 1948, but without his songs, because he had died on 3-10-1943. The MD- Snehal Bhatkar sang his songs in the Hindi version.

Vishnupant Pagnis became immortal with just one film Sant Tukaram. Even today this film is shown and discussed in the film Institutes of many countries.Many books and essays and articles are published on this film. His performance as Tukaram has become a major reference-point in debates about Indian performance idioms: e.g. Kumar Shahani’s essay The Saint Poets of Prabhat, 1981; Geeta Kapur’s Mythic Material in Indian Cinema, 1987 etc etc.

Today’s film Mahatma Vidur-43 was made on the life of Vidur after he renounced his Royal heritage and displeased the Kauravas by joining the Pandav camp.The film was full of miracle scenes. The art direction was by the legendary Baburao Painter. Story was by mohanlal Dave and dialogeus and lyrics by Narottam Vyas and Mahesh Kaul.

How many of us really know anything about Vidur ? Not many, I am sure. Vidur was an important character in Mahabharat. He was the brother of Dhritrashtra and Pandu, thus an uncle of Kauravas and Pandavas. The story of his birth is interesting.

In the clan of Kuru, Vichitraveerya became the king. Bhishma did his marriage with Ambika and Ambalika, However, the king died without any issues. The Queen mother Satyavati requested the Rajpurohit and family mentor Bhishma to produce children for the clan. But due to his vow of Celibacy, he refused. Then Maharshi Vyas was called in to help, which he agreed. When he went to queen Ambika, she could not tolerate his Teja and closed her eyes. Hence Dhritarashtra was born without vision. Ambalika fell pale and she gave birth to Pandu, who was ill always. Finally a Daasi was asked to go with Vyasa. the Daasi enjoyed the intimacy and a very intelligent and learned Vidur was born. the meaning of word Vidur itself is skillful, intelligent and Philosophical.

In the great war, Vidur sided the Pandavas because they were on the side of Truth. He saved them many times from the plans of Kauravas, especially from the Lakshagriha fire. His advices and principles are known as Vidur Neeti. ( This is supposed to be the precursor to Chanakya Neeti in King Nand’s period.). After the war Vidur was made the PM, but he declined and went to the forest for doing Penance. Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti and Madri too went with him. Once when Dharmaraj-Yudhishthir- went to call on him, Vidur died in his arm, bestowing all his powers to him. The others with him also died later in a forest fire.

The film was directed by Parshwanath Alatekar. Tbhis name too must be unknown to most people. Altekar (1897-1957) was from Kharepatan i n Ratnagiri, the coastal Konkan area of Maharashtra. he was educated in Kolhapur and graduated from Sangli. he abandoned Law studies to direct a drama in 1922. Basically a drama enthusiast, Altekar entered film world in Marathi and directed many films in silent era. He joined hands with Sarpotdar, Master Vithal and pendharkar brothers. In 1928, he made 4 films for Imperial film company, then for Saraswati Cinetone, Master Vinayak and Circo films. He made a few Tamil and Kannada films as well.

He floated his own company Natraj Cinetone and made Hindi/Marathi film Saathi/Savangadi in 1938 with Durga Khote and Mubarak. Meanwhile he worked for his pet drama group Natya Manwantar. Alatekar died on 22-11-1957 at Bombay. he directed 13 films including silent and Tamil/Kannada films. His Hindi films were Vasavdatta-34, Saathi-38, Mera Haque-39, Geeta 40 and Mahatma Vidur-43.

Let us now listen to Vishnupant Pagnis singing a song from film Mahatma Vidur-43. The film makes its in debut in the Blog with this song.